Huffpo says "Tokyo is implementing new restrictions on the sale of anime films and manga comics depicting sex acts such as rape and incest, the AFP is reporting. A new bill, proposed by conservative governor Shintaro Ishihara, bans the sale of such products to anyone under the age of 18. Specifically, the bill wants to prohibit depictions of 'sexual or pseudosexual acts that would be illegal in real life or sexual or pseudosexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal.' " And I feel greatly that huffington post, however leftist is presents itself, is a better news source than sankakucomplex.

To be honest, I don't like to see rape in media, and though I am not some super-conservative-no-incest-ever type of person, it is such a small percentage of most genres that I could live without it. Especially considering how rarely it is tastefully done.

And if we are going by this information, BL/GL yaoi and yuri shouldn't be changed, as almost all yaoi and yuri is already labeled as 18+. The governor may be against homosexuality, but that is an opinion. Rape and incest are actually illegal. Therefore BL/GL without sex shouldn't be rated 18+ unless it contained violence or something else 18+worthy. In case no one knew, homosexuality is illegal in quite a few countries (mostly in africa and the middle east, and some parts of asia) but not in Japan.

I may be wrong on something, so by all means, berate me all you want if I am, (because this is MU, and I doubt many here are capable of reasonably pointing out my misinformation without being rude.) But remember there is also the fact that so many people seem to keep overlooking. This ban only applies to Tokyo.

Actually, if all that is needed is an 18+ sticker, in Japan that might simply up sales. They run those on an honor system: they trust you to not read porn, smoke cigarettes, or drink alcohol if you're underage.

They trust you to be buying for a legal adult when you do buy such and it's not legal for you to personally consume such.

Actually, from a practical standpoint, a uniform rating system would be handy, if it's set up not to ban anything but rather to ensure that the buyer doesn't have SURPRISE PORN® in the middle of their otherwise cute slice-of-life story. ("Oh, look, she's thinking about her job as a secretary and going shopping for dinner and...doing the guy behind the meat counter and the fishmonger and the clerk behind the register in a foursome? Wha?")

Phew... I'm gonna die if the otaku culture is banned in whole Japan.But hey Mister Governor, isn't otaku culture what made you popular? And I think there's no need to ban... all this time all was well.

Thank you for the reply! But what is about that (self-)regulation thing? I think the labels exist now too. This law add the term regulation and that the politicians can intervene if they estimate this regulation is not done well in their opinion. This matter is very vague, is it just labeling (which applies now too) or a real ban of "non-regulated" in their visions thing. This stuff is so unclear bc they could ban every manga they don't like.

If everything depends of if something is legal in the Japanese society or not then this law doesn's target BL/GL and hentai if they don't contain rape/incest/underage characters.

The ban is abt Tokyo but this is a heart of this industry.

It may be an opinion, as well as his words about foreigners, otaku and old females. But one person in Dan's Blog said that if in Korea a politician speaks openly againts transgendered ppl, gay ppl etc. he/she would be punished hard for defaming.

Honestly, I could care less. I don't really understand the bill that much, but from what I've gathered, they're trying to outlaw gay and lolicon genres from the shounen/shoujo demographic, or something to that extent, right? I mostly read seinen, so it doesn't affect me really, not that I'm interested in BL or seeing a little girl getting railed by her brother anyways. Anyways, it really seems like nothing will change. Maybe a few borderline H mangas will cease, but I really don't know of any shounen/shoujo mangas that depicts the "hardcore" sexual situations they want to get rid of. They're just trying to keep porn out of the hands of kids. I think. I'm not from Japan, nor do I speak the language, so I don't have any clue what's going on. It wouldn't bother me if they took out anything sexual from all manga, although that would make some series quite bland. I read manga for the story, not the T&A. The only thing I would miss is the sexually oriented comedy cliches, i.e. girl sees guys morning wood and freaks out, guy unknowingly walks into occupied shower and the person freaks out, etc). Aside from that, I could really do without the extensive bath scenes, the huge boobs everyone seems to have, and things like that. There is way too much fan-service in manga as a whole IMO. Nothing will really change I think. Just maybe a little added censorship. I think those who voted "Changes completely" read a bit too much ecchi and yaoi

Don't forget that yuri is also a gay genre since it is abt same-sex couples too. Yes, I read much yaoi and no, I didn't vote Changes Completely.He can't ban yaoi/yuri because being gay/lesbian is not illegal in Japan.